Ayaan Hirsi Ali in London

On Friday night, I went with a group of friends to see Dutch MP Ayaan Hirsi Ali at the ICA in London. The event was part of English Pen’s campaign for free-speech. Before Ayaan was interviewed by Timothy Garton-Ash, the film that she made with Theo van Gogh was shown.

Ayaan is still under death sentence from various Islamist groups, so as you would expect, security was tight. We were all frisked and had our bags searched before going into the cinema. My friend had her apple and bottle of water confiscated. The security guard said that they could potentially be thrown at the stage. We managed to get seats in the second row so I ended up sitting behind Ayaan. She was accompanied by three very tall, shaven headed men, who I assumed were Dutch police. The British police were also there in strength and the ICA had beefed up its own security. In the event, there was no trouble, not even any heckling. There were a few mildly hostile questions at the end but that was as dangerous as it got.

Friday night was the first time the film Submission has been shown in public since it was on Dutch television last year. It is only eleven minutes long and shows a veiled woman saying Islamic prayers, then describing how, although did everything Allah asked, she was raped by her uncle, whipped for having premarital sex then forced into an arranged marriage with a man who beat her. The film cuts to a shot of a naked woman covered in whip scars. The perpetrators of these crimes all quoted the Koran as justification for their actions. The woman is shown both totally covered and in a see through burka, which reveals her naked body, covered in verses from the Koran. Submission was only shown once on Dutch TV but that was enough to cause an outcry from Muslims and the death of the producer, Theo van Gogh. Tim Garton-Ash asked Ayaan whether she thought the film would ever be screened on British TV. She replied that so far, there hasn’t been any interest.

In the discussion that followed, Ayaan argued that multiculturalism is at odds with the Enlightenment tradition. Multiculturalism promotes group rights and while western liberalism was, at least originally, about individual rights. By defending the rights of minority cultures, liberals condemn individuals within those cultures, such as gays and women, to suffer oppression. Individual rights are seen as fine for other westerners but not for members of minorities. We would rather turn a blind eye to the subjugation of women than criticise Islamic culture. In this way, multiculturalism trumps feminism and gay rights.

Ayaan described this as ‘lazy liberalism’. It is not a considered stance, just one that has grown up over time because liberals are too lazy (or too scared, in my view) to confront oppressive cultural norms. “Feudalism has returned to Europe,” she said, “but it is wearing a different jacket.” The gains of the Enlightenment are being lost as western opinion formers shy away from tackling oppression and religious superstition. The results of multiculturalism, then, run counter to the western liberal values that emerged from the Enlightenment.

Needless to say, some people in the audience took issue with her but did not make any strong counter-arguments. At the end of the interview, Tim Garton-Ash said that it felt like sitting with Kant or Voltaire. Ayaan Hirsi Ali, he said, was a true champion of the Enlightenment. I too was impressed by Ayaan, not just by her obvious intelligence and the power of her arguments but by her calmness and her sheer guts. Here is a woman who did not grow up in Europe and was brought up in a very different culture, yet she has become a champion of western liberal values. So much so, that she is prepared to risk her life in defence of them. How many of us native Europeans are prepared to do that? She cares more about our tradition of freedom and individual rights than we do.

In the Netherlands, though, at least some political figures are directly challenging multiculturalism. In the UK, the debate is muted and those that do question multiculturalism are usually shouted down as racists. I cannot imagine any British politician being prepared to stick his or her neck out in the defence of western values, in the same way that Ayaan Hirsi Ali has. If anything, New Labour is moving in the opposite direction by legislating against the criticism of oppressive religions and bringing the MCB into government as advisers.

I am glad that I went along on Friday and showed support for this courageous woman. It is encouraging that English Pen, Tim Garton-Ash and the ICA were brave enough to arrange this event. Public figures who are prepared to confront Islam’s challenge to our values are few and far between. In answer to Tim Garton-Ash’s question, I don’t believe that any British TV channel will show Submission in the near future. Our politicians and the senior executives in our broadcasting organisations are too scared. None of them has the courage of Ayaan Hirsi Ali.